What’s new? Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP) has emerged as a major international security threat, orchestrating or inspiring attacks abroad following a Taliban clampdown on its home turf. Although its strikes have fallen in number in 2025, its offensive could resurge. Why does it matter? Despite the recent lull, IS-KP might reactivate commanders willing to carry out attacks abroad or coordinate with other ISIS branches to launch them.
Even a small number of high-profile operations – such as the March 2024 mass shooting and arson in Moscow – can cause numerous deaths and have major international repercussions. What should be done? Coordination among security services has improved, particularly in intelligence sharing and rendition. There are strong reasons not to resort to military action, but more could be done in terms of collaborating with the Taliban and Syrian governments, redefining the global anti-ISIS coalition’s law enforcement role, and supporting Central Asian countries.
The Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP) has swiftly emerged as a leading jihadist threat to international peace and security, though of late its fortunes seem to be on the wane. Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, IS-KP pulled back from an offensive in the country where it is based and shifted its focus abroad, increasingly targeting countries such as Iran, Russia and Pakistan, as well as attempting to strike both Europe and the U.S.
While it retains only limited capabilities in the West, where it has faced a crackdown and relies on low-level recruits often drawn from minority communities, the group continues to pose a danger, especially as it learns to adapt to online surveillance and tightened law enforcement controls. While interstate coordination and intelligence sharing is improving – even among the Taliban, Russia and Western governments – more sustained collaboration is essential lest the group hatch new deadly attacks.
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